The Kid's Dentist

Update: All the reviews are super favorable except 1) Colleen R who had basically my exact same complaint and 2) an opponent of "Hess' s crazy anti-suger campaign" who is the only parent to describe a poor outcome. So basically you have a very skilled and experienced practice marred by an old-fashioned reliance on "tough love" in a society that's no longer built for it. Original: I agree with the other reviewers who say that the staff is far more helpful than average, Dr. Hess is very competent and experienced, and the treatment babies receive here is excellent: the best I know of in Albuquerque. I would have no hesitation recommending Dr. Hess for children up to about age 5. However, there has been a repeated problem with the care my older son received. Like his father, he has needed multiple baby teeth extracted. I think his need is at least partially genetic, not anyone's fault. I believe that extraction hurts because there's a visible bleeding hole in the gums and he reacts immediately even though he's been numbed and not warned of the exact moment the tooth will be pulled. After each extraction, my son has cried. Dr. Hess responded that it would be okay to cry if the procedure hurt, but it doesn't hurt. My son says it does. I disagree that a service provider has the authority to tell a child not to cry. I believe that medical gaslighting happens. I believe that it's not helpful to engage a crying seven year old in an argument about what he feels. I discern that Dr. Hess disagrees with all these beliefs because Dr. Hess has repeated these ideas at each extraction: It's not okay to cry right now, this doesn't hurt, you are an anxious person who needs to shape up or you will always be unhappy. The last point would be valid if made in a better way at a better time, but I don't know one parent who goes to the dentist for help in describing a child's character flaws. Many of us do it loudly, for free, more often than we should. Last time, the assistant piled on by saying, "If you wiggle your teeth out for yourself, this won't happen." So it doesn't hurt, it's all in your head, but also the pain is punishment for not meeting your responsibilities. After we left, my son and I were both angry. My only evidence that this is a pattern is that it's happened twice to us. I've considered whether it's unfair to skip straight to writing a review. I did not raise this complaint with the office because the basic issue is that people who complain are disregarded and made to feel worse. I don't want to put in effort just to be blamed for the problem and either get into an argument about whether my crummy family is really crummy enough to cause this problem or else give up and know I've merely hardened everyone's resolve to talk tough with kids. So my compromise is to write a really long review, that way only fair-minded people will consider it. Hope it helps.
Aug 21st, 2020

Aug 8th, 2020

Mar 7th, 2020

My son had a terrible dental experience with Dr. Hess and it still haunts him (and me) to this day. If we drive by his office, my son immediately remembers. It’s taken a lot of courage for me to write this, because I typically have a lot of respect and patience with dental providers. This was different though. I am writing this 2 years later and the details are still very clear in my mind. My son had a severe cavity that needed a pulpectomy. Dr. Hess gave my son a numbing shot. He didn’t wait that long after and started working on my son. Dr. Hess said, “raise your hand if it starts to hurt.” My son raised his hand immediately when Dr. Hess started working. He stopped and looked at my son and said, “now that’s not pain. I just numbed you. You can’t say that it’s already starting to hurt. Do you know what pain is?” He poked my sons cheek with his instrument and said, “now that’s pain!” The dental assistant wasn’t very much help because she said that he is psyching himself out. My son had asked to go to the bathroom. Dr. Hess said, “absolutely not, you had your opportunity to go before.” My son wanted out. After the procedure I realized my son never had to use the bathroom, but he was trying to tell me that the man was hurting him. The dentist continues to drill even though my son was telling him that it hurt. I asked the doctor if he could use something different to numb him, give him more, do something else and the dentist continued and said it shouldn’t be hurting him. My sons legs were shaking, tears were coming down the sides of his face. I was squeezing his hands as hard as I could reassuring him that he was brave and that he was almost done. Dr Hess jumped at me and said, “you don’t tell him when it’s over, I SAY WHEN WE ARE DONE!” He threatened my son and said if he didn’t cut it out, he would have his mom sit in the lobby. My son was not misbehaving. He was being respectful. He was just trying to tell the dentist that what he was doing was painful. My son has a high tolerance for pain. He’s a tough kid. He falls on his bike and gets back up again. Once my son hears that the dentist would kick me out, he just took the pain. I was in tears. After the procedure, my son got up from the chair and went to hide in the lobby under a chair. Dr. Hess starting talking to me and said that the cavity was worse than what he had expected and he couldn’t finish it. I went to the bathroom and balled my eyes out. I regret to this day that I didn’t advocate for my son and stop that man from working on my sweet boy. Thank goodness we have switched dentists and have a gentle, caring dentist now who has worked with us and relieved my son’s anxiety about having any dental work. And guess what? My son is very respectful and the dentist is able to do the work they need with no problem. Dr. Hess never provided the right anesthetic, didn’t listen to my son, was extremely rude, didn’t listen to me, and overall did a poor job. PLEASE do NOT send your children to this dentist!!!!!!
Feb 9th, 2020

Nov 17th, 2019